In the Region: Connecticut and Westchester; Hartford's Getting a World Trade Center

By ELEANOR CHARLES

Published: April 19, 1987

A $100 MILLION World Trade Center to rise in downtown Hartford is expected to promote an increase in Connecticut's foreign trade, and to stand as a symbol of its role in international commerce.

Demolition of a parking structure on the site is expected to begin within 90 days and the developer, David T. Chase, head of Chase Enterprises, said he expects the project -two connecting buildings, one 33 stories tall, the other 22 - to be finished by mid-1989.

Half of the total of 500,000 square feet in both buildings, excluding 13 stories of parking for 1,000 cars, will be occupied by tenants whose business or service is internationally oriented. A total of 25,000 square feet will be rented to shopkeepers and the remaining space will be devoted to a health club, indoor pool, banquet and conference rooms, exhibition halls and other offices ranging in size from 12,000 to 29,000 square feet. Rents will be around $28 a foot.

Selling the concept of a world trade center is the job of Edward J. Stockton, president of Stockton Associates and a former State Commissioner of Economic Development. ''Most people know the World Trade Center building in lower Manhattan, but they don't know what a world trade center is,'' he said.

''It's a one-stop shopping center,'' said Mr. Chase.

He was approached by the Connecticut World Trade Association in 1985 because he owned a choice piece of property at the corner of Asylum Avenue and Ford Street overlooking the State Capitol. After some initial reluctance to become involved, he said, ''once I understood its function, it became obvious that it was a great opportunity.'' Mr. Chase's property is one block from the Civic Center, three blocks from Interstate 91, 20 minutes from Bradley International Airport, and adjacent to the Parkview Hilton Hotel, which he also owns. Mr. Chase will own and operate the World Trade Center, connecting it to his hotel with an enclosed walkway.

''This is not just another office building,'' said John Carson, State Commissioner of Economic Development. ''It is a logical extension of a maturing, independent economic entity. There is great interest and opportunity in little old Connecticut, sandwiched between New York and Boston. It's one of the most internationally oriented states.'' His statistics show that 110,000 jobs in Connecticut are related to $6 billion in annual exports and that 46,000 other jobs are provided by 450 overseas companies operating in the state, one of the largest ratios per capita of any state. It is hoped that the trade center will stimulate greater production for export, helping to offset the loss of about 40,000 jobs to competion from foreign goods.

A world-trade center brings together business, community and government entities involved with international trade for the convenience of domestic and overseas companies.

One of the building's major tenants will be the Connecticut World Trade Association, linked by a communications network to the 129 other members of the World Trade Association in 53 countries, including the United States. A World Trade Center must be chartered by the association to use the name.

''Each one is a branch of the other,'' said Thomas J. Kearney, chairman of communications for the World Trade Association, which has headquarters in the World Trade Center in New York. ''Someone in Bangkok can access a worldwide electronic bulletin board at low rates, post announcements, follow up with messages to pursue what might be of interest.''

''We don't expect United Technologies or the big insurance companies to locate in the center,'' Mr. Stockton said. ''They don't need us. But there are 6,300 manufacturing companies in Connecticut and only 10 percent of them export. The center will encourage more of the smaller and medium-sized firms to get into foreign markets. Based on technology and product mix we can increase exports to 25 percent.'' ''We have a problem with foreign penetration of our markets just like the rest of the country,'' said Charles Garcia, director of the Connecticut World Trade Association. ''Eighty-five percent of exports are by major companies whose business has been dropping for the past decade. We believe the remedy is to expand the base by bringing in smaller companies who don't get into exporting for fear of the unknown.''

''SUPPOSE we know that a Connecticut product is marketable in Korea,'' he continued. ''The manufacturer has never sold to Korea before. We will arrange for letters of credit, insurance people, a freight forwarder, market researcher, data analysis. I can suggest to a manufacturer that he set up a branch in Yugoslavia and he will probably laugh at me. But we can do it.''

''Each center is different, scaled to fit its region,'' Mr. Kearney said. ''Some are built by government - ours is a product of the Port Authority. They can be built privately, or jointly by public and private entities.''

''The zoning is there, and some pro forma approvals are in the works,'' Mr. Chase said. ''We do not anticipate any problems.'' He has invested $20 million in the project, and according to Mr. Stockton ''we have more investors than you can shake a stick at.'' More than 200,000 square feet are spoken for by the state's Department of Economic Development, law firms, accountants, foreign and domestic banks, interpreters, translators, travel firms, and European, Japanese and English manufacturers. Tenants must become members of the association by paying dues that range from $500 to $3,000 a year.

Of 49 such centers worldwide, 9 are in the United States.

An additional 39 are under construction or planned, 14 of them in the United States. Boston's 850,000-square-foot building opened in January 1986 and it is 90 percent leased. ''Most trade centers sell out quickly.

It's an excellent business address,'' Mr. Garcia said.

''This is an idea for real-estate development whose time has come,'' said Eric Outwater, director of the district export council of the Federal Department of Commerce, whose office will be in the Hartford center. ''Hartford is like Dodge City when the railroad arrived.

We have a very rich and prosperous part of New England here. I'm very bullish on this section of Connecticut.''

Rendering shows the two buildings of the planned $100 million World Trade Center of Hartford; the Parkview Hilton, smaller building at right.